Saturday, June 09, 2007

The Road To Hell...

The whole idea began fairly innocently...Saint EB said, "I wanna ride in the MS150 in your honor." I said, "Wow! Coolio!" But as the training process has begun to unfold, I'm no longer sure which one of us lost their friggin' mind first about this idea...

Soaked in a monsoon-type rain, dripping water, shivering, and with a bleeding shoulder, Saint EB appeared in the haze of a grey, Seattle morning. She had just done her first "tour" with Dr. She Who Will Not Be Named and the MS150 team...I got a phone call from her cell earlier, saying she was on her way back to the designated parking area where the team had started out their "ride around Lake Washington" at 7:30AM (which, by the way, IS a 75 mile trip!). She had turned back at one of the legs of the tour, after crashing into a wall...but not before hopping back on her bike and traveling another 5 or so miles!

"What in the h-e-double L toothpicks did she DO to you?!?" I practically yelled on the street when I saw my wounded hero wheeling her bicycle toward me...I had already made up my mind this was the good doctor's fault and the wrath of my fury would be bestowed upon Dr. SWWNBN.

Saint EB downplayed the whole event (this is how it is in MY mind, anyway), saying the "boys" and the good doctor were being "held behind" because she was too slow for them, so she LIED to Dr. SWWNBN (why NOT, I suppose? I've done the same...LOL) and said she was too tired to continue...she proceeded to ride behind them without their knowing to the next destination, then turned around and headed back. Somewhere on the trail before this, however, she managed to crash into a wall, scraping her shoulder, which was bleeding.

Now, I'm not exactly certain why I feel RESPONSIBLE for this trauma, but I do...my fierce mother bear comes out when I think one of my "cubs" has been wrongly wounded. I was ready to smack Dr. SWWNBN (even though I know it really wasn't her fault...I just have fantasies of "smacking" her...LOL) or, at the very least, challenge her to a round of Indian Leg Wrestling (she's a tiny woman and I KNOW I could take her!).

I loaded up my bleeding and tired warrior (AKA, my "rider") into my car and drove her back to where her car was parked. I thought for sure Saint EB would tell me she was through with this fiasco and we'd just continue to "train" this summer, but maybe for the "Special Olympics" instead. This was not the case...

As we stood in the rain transferring the bike to her car, Saint EB asked if we were "still on" for our drive tomorrow? "Huh?" was all I could say.

She was talking about the drive we had planned last week to go north of Seattle where the MS150 is going to be held...we had planned to drive the "route" so she could get an idea of the hills that would be involved.

I stammered, not sure of my response. Surely Saint EB had also received a concussion from her "crash" and Dr. SWWNBN had missed this on her roadside exam (she's just a neurologist after all...not a "real" doctor!)...

"You still want to go?" I asked in disbelief. I was starting to think Saint EB had quite possibly fallen into shock and I would be needing to rush her to the nearest emergency room.

"Well, yeeeaaah," she says, like I was the one with the head injury. "It might be raining, but we'll still have a good drive." And with that said, she hopped in her car with the spring of a 20-something rider and drove off.

I think it was my mother who used to say, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"...I think the road to "heaven" (or substitute whatever afterlife/karma/place we go when we die) must be paved with the likes of people like Saint EB...

Survivor MS

HAWAII 2014 PARASAIL

EMAIL:

LOCATION:

Seattle, WA, USA

AGE & OTHER TRIVIA:

53/female/Leo

DIAGNOSIS:

Relapsing & Remitting Multiple Sclerosis--Diagnosed 04/15/2003--(because having to pay taxes that day just wasn't enough!)

MEDICATIONS:

I have taken Copaxone, Avonex, IVIg, Tysabri, and 5 doses of Novantrone in 2007. I also participated in a Rituxan Study in 2005-2006. In the fall of 2007, while still on Novantrone, I began having "break through" symptoms, which became more and more frequent. In March 2008, I had an MRI that showed many enhancing lesions--Novantrone was no longer effective. Tysabri had been discontinued in November 2006, due to a questionable "anaphylactoid reaction". I received my first restart dose of Tysabri on April 8th, 2008, without experiencing ANY allergic response...I completed 9 doses of Tysabri in 2008, but continued to have some relapsing symptoms. I have, since December 2008, stopped all Disease Modifying medications and feel great...but don't tell my neurologist!